Here’s a question for yah: is Fargo (the TV show) actually smart?
It’s an odd question to ask at this point, admittedly; starting the fourth season after three seasons’ worth of generally fulsome praise from yours truly, you’d think I’d have a better idea about the answer. But I honestly don’t. Season one, I spent most of my time impressed that such a seemingly terrible idea (a television spin-off of a Coen Brothers movie) actually yielded watchable content. Season two, I was impressed at how series’ creator Noah Hawley expanded his ambitions to tell a funny, sad, and tense story about a pair of warring crime families and the deranged housewife who inadvertently gets caught between them. Season three, well, that was where the doubts started to creep in. It was still the same show, more less, but the tricks were starting to wear thin, and as good as the production and the performances were, it was hard to ignore that, once you got past the tricks… well, what was there? What was all of this about?
Which brings us to season four, and tonight’s double-header: “Welcome To The Alternate Economy” and “The Land Of Taking And Killing.” At slightly over two hours combined even before you add in the commercials, that’s a lot of Fargo content for one evening, establishing the setting and introducing, well, a heck of a lot of characters at once. We get a mission statement in the first episode (“If America is a nation of immigrants, then how does one become American?”), and by the end of the second episode, there’s enough conflict and unease coming from every sector that it’s easy to imagine how the show moves forward even if it’s hard to predict any one thread in specific. Goofy shit happens alongside incredibly violent shit. Characters speak in heightened, convoluted eloquence at rough contrast with their behaviors. The pace is sloooooow.
All of which is to say that, yes, this is definitely Fargo the TV show as we have come to know it. We even get the “Based on a true story” disclaimer, although at this point, what charm the artifice once had has pretty much left the building. Which is something you could say about a lot of this, I think. While there is certainly considerable strangeness at play in both episodes, there are few turns or characters who offer legitimate surprises; worse, even the surprises have a familiar ring to them.
Is it bad? Not exactly. But it is kind of dull, and what’s striking is how tentatively the new season seems to be willing to engage in those few elements of its setting that are unique. Set in 1950, the premise is again about two crime families—in this case the Cannon Limited (a Black syndicate led by Loy Cannon (Chris Rock)) and the Fadda family (the Italian mob). In the opening of the first episode, we learn about the history of criminal organizations in Kansas City, and how each one was wiped out by some new marginalized community looking to make its mark on the world. The Moskowitz Syndicate, betrayed and murdered by the Milligan Concern, which was in turn destroyed by the Faddas, who now face off against the Cannons.
That’s fine, as far as it goes, but the Moskowitz and Milligans aren’t given enough time to be more than caricatures, and the time we spend with the Faddas and the Cannons in these episodes, while providing more detail, doesn’t precisely add depth. It’s a tricky thing to criticize, because on the one hand, any show working with marginalized groups has an obligation to avoid or address stereotypes about those groups, with the understanding that said stereotypes are reductive products of racism. But without having a feel for either groups’ respective cultures, you risk losing what made them distinct, the lack of authenticity rendering any point you might be trying to make moot.
That’s a difficult needle to thread: to portray Italian or Black Americans in a way that at once acknowledges how their personhood was flattened by the narrow view of what they could be, while at the same time understands and values what their specific cultures brought to the country at large. So far at least, Fargo’s fourth season doesn’t even seem to try. The Faddas play like a collection of surfaces drawn from other shows about the mob, and the Cannons don’t even really have that. There’s an acknowledgement of the prejudice both groups face, but no sense of what makes them unique. It’s possible to come away from the first two episodes with the impression that Italians suffered more from bigotry in 1950s American than the Black community did, and while I doubt that impression is intentional, it’s still an odd angle of approach.
You could argue that the show is trying to present these stories in a new light; you could also argue that expecting a new season to cover such large swaths of complicated, baggage-heavy territory in two episodes is being pretty unreasonable. It’s possible that the narrative will get sharper over time, but for right now, the detached-irony approach that Fargo takes for all its stories (probably the greatest debt the show owes to the Coen brothers movie it continues to riff on) doesn’t really seem to serve the material all that well, covering every moment in a patina of quirk that makes it that much harder to see the real people underneath.
Of course, that was always a feature, not a bug, and in earlier seasons, the detachment served to make both the tense and melancholy elements of the show hit harder. This season, though, it all just feels kind of rote. Take the scene in “Welcome To The Alternate Economy” where Donatello Fadda is accidentally shot in the neck with a child’s BB gun. The juxtaposition of whimsy and shocking violence is one of Fargo’s signature moves, but the show isn’t content to simply leave it at that; it has to precede the shot with Donatello suffering a gastro-intestinal ailment that presents as a heart attack before resolving in a giant fart. The fart is what forces the other people in the car with him to open the car windows, which makes the BB gun shot possible, and it’s all done in the context of tensions with the Cannons. But it doesn’t leave much impression beyond the acknowledgement that yes, isn’t it strange how comedy and tragedy can be intertwined. There’s no real surprise beyond the immediate “Oh, I guess that happened.” It doesn’t build to anything.
That, more than anything, is the real problem with these first two episodes. A lot happens, there’s an undercurrent of rising danger, but little sense of a story or narrative unfolding; it’s most just a collection of scenes which, presumably, will all be relevant to one another if we keep watching. (Or not; Hawley does, after all, have a fondness for using that “Based on a true story” gag as an excuse to just throw in random details, just ’cause.) On the macro level, the plot is simple enough—in attempt to keep the peace between their families, the Faddas and the Cannons exchange sons; Donatello is injured, and then killed (more on that in a second), leaving his son Josto (Jason Schwartzman) to square off against his other son, Gaetano (Salvatore Esposito) for control; Loy struggles to convince white-run businesses to invest in his new idea, the “credit card,” while he works to use Donatello’s death to the Cannon’s advantage.
Okay, not “simple,” exactly, but that basic summary at least gives you a sense of what’s at play. The trouble is, none of it seems to matter that much. We spend so much time in the first two episodes introducing these characters, along with several more besides, that even while I can intellectually summarize the narrative, I have little emotional connection to it. There’s no real urgency to any of Josto’s squabbling, or to Loy’s work, at least not right now, and even if the stakes are slowly rising, that doesn’t automatically mean they matter. We’re not given a reason to care beyond the charisma of the actors and the assumption that, eventually, it’ll get more interesting. The slow pace flattens everything out, and the constant quirk has more or less lost all its novelty.
Thankfully, a few bits and pieces manage to stand out from the rest. The first episode opens with a quote from Frederick Douglass, narrated by Ethelrida Pearl Smutny (E’myri Crutchfield), the teenage daughter of an interracial couple who, so far at least, looks to be serving as the lone sane, decent person in an ensemble filled with varying degrees of disreputability. As with the show’s previous moral center characters, Ethelrida is instantly appealing for her intelligence, her calmness, and her evident decency; even better, for once, the moral center isn’t a cop, and her youth and status make her distinctly vulnerable even as her intelligence sets her apart from the rest.
At the opposite end of the spectrum is Jessie Buckley as Oraetta Mayflower. Oraetta is the one ultimately responsible for Donatello’s death, drugging his IV line while he groggily asks what’s going on, ostensibly because she wants to end his suffering. If Ethelrida is the moral center figure, then Oraetta is another series staple, the agent of chaos. The big difference here is that unlike Lorne Malvo or V.M. Varga, Oraetta doesn’t come across as a genius manipulator who uses her willingness to do anything to get what she wants; she’s sharp and determined, and when she’s caught trying to murder another patient in “The Land Of Taking And Killing,” she gets the upperhand against her supervisor by more or less browbeating him into submission—but there’s no sense that she’s using her talents with a larger goal in mind. A pure psychopath can be a useful story tool, but only if her behavior is internally consistent. Buckley’s striking, chipper performance lends the character coherence, and her sudden swerves are as lively as the first two episodes get; the big question going forward is if there will be a clearer method to her madness, or if she’ll remain a cipher.
Characters like Oraetta and Ethelrida are a reminder that, smart or not, Fargo is at its best when it focuses on distinctive, compelling individuals thrust into difficult situations. Even when the show ostensibly tries to take on larger themes, it’s most effective when it sticks to simpler pleasures—interesting folks doing interesting things. I can appreciate and admire the ambition to wrestle with big questions, but that ambition doesn’t automatically lead to effective results. There are flashes of inspiration in these first two episodes, moments that land well and omens of better story to come; but far too much of it comes across as someone clearing their throat for five minutes before announcing “Webster’s dictionary defines ‘prejudice’ as…” Fingers crossed that it gets weirder and wilder from here on out.
Stray observations
- I got so caught up in the review part of this that I didn’t give much of a recap. So: in addition to the struggles of the crime families, we also have Ethelrida’s parents, who own a funeral home and took out a bad loan and may be in some kind of troubled relationship with the Cannons; and an interracial lesbian couple, Zelmare Roulette and Swanee Capp, who break out of jail, steal some clothes, and show up at the Smutnys’ with an eye towards finding work in town (Zelmare is Ethelrida’s mother’s sister). The end of the second episode has Timothy Olyphant showing up with a passel of cops to bust down the Smutny’s front door seconds after Oraetta dropped off an apple pie dosed with ipecac. Kind of a twofer cliffhanger, you could say.
- Good lord, the names in this. On the one hand, it underlines the way American culture forces assimilation by requiring immigrant families to change or simplify their names to better fit in; on the other hand, I’ve had to check and double check the spelling a dozen times already, and I absolutely know I’m going to screw it up at some point.
- The idea of the crime families swapping sons has a nice, fairy tale ring to it, and I get that it’s a tradition, but given that it’s apparently never actually worked to maintain the peace, you have to wonder why they keep doing it. Or why no one acknowledges that it’s not going to work.
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Two questions: Is Ethelrida the author? And is Salvatore Esposito Josh Gad’s brother from another mother?
Yeah he’s Arnold to Gad’s Danny DeVito
No, he’s Mean Sean Astin.
It’s funny, he gave me strong Jack Black as Nacho Libre vibes. Funny how he reminded you guys of these other guys, but I can see all of it. He’s just a “character” character, but I do enjoy it.
It was near the end of the first episode when I realized this season was literally made for me. I’m a half Irish lad who loves the mafia, true crime, serial killers preferably obscure female, early country music, and redheads and nurses. Near the end of the episode redhead in a nurse outfit Jessie Buckley, who is so obviously playing a character inspired by obscure female serial killer Honora Kelly AKA Jolly Jane Toppan, starts singing the Carter Family classic Will the Circle Be Unbroken. Also the Irish mob boss at the start is a subtle reference to Owney Madden. So I don’t know about everyone but I’m loving this season so far.
I agree—-I didn’t like the idea of putting two episodes premiering on the same night—-especially since they were both extended length and as usual, very dense.Almost considered DVR’ing the second one to watch tomorrow, but I made it through.My favorite part was Chris Rock’s face when the bank manager turned down his credit card idea—-reminded me of Charles Barkley when the waitress didn’t know who he was.
Well this was different, they kept some parts of the formula while discarding the rest, like not having a heroic cop lead and a hapless fool murdering someone to jumpstart the disaster dominoes.It’ll be interesting to see where they go with this and the fact that they appear to have a billion characters this season. Most of whom will probably be dead by the end.
Admittedly, this is the one season where centering on a heroic cop, might not quite fit
This is, without a doubt, the most boring season of Fargo yet! Utterly unwatchable.
“is Fargo (the TV show) actually smart?”I don’t think it ever has been, and I mean that as a compliment.
That’s fair.
To quote season 2. Its about simple people who are touched in the head.
witty and, *Tywin Lannister voice* “possessing some low cunning” I always thought it was full of some very clever characters, some very obtuse and ignorant ones, and overall the writing blends them together in an entertaining way. It isn’t trying to be “Arrested Development” with meticulous, running jokes and a ton of meta humor, or “The Americans” or whatever. Though I don’t like reviewers trying to tear it down to make themselves seem like sages.
Ultimately, who cares? Is it entertaining? To me, yes, and that’s plenty.
Yes I think Fargo is a smart show. It’s well-written, takes full advantage of the great cast it gets every season, and has some phenomenal moments which are unlike most other shows on TV. People rag on S3, but there are so many great moments from that season like the episode that mostly takes place in the past or the Peter and the Wolf intro.I also disagree the show has lost its charm, if anything I’ve really missed it given S3 aired over three years ago.
I also liked S3 and tuned into the first episode tonight mostly because I was missing particular elements of S3, like the score and cinematography. I’m not hooked yet on this season, though it’s still early.
I didn’t like S3 as much as S2 the first time I watched it (cause I loved S2 so much), so I only rewatched S3 a couple months ago for the first time, but I ended up really enjoying the rewatch and I came around on the season.
I still liked S2 soundtrack the most out of all the seasons.
Hard call on soundtracks. I mean season 1 had an episode open to Wildwood Flower 1928, my favorite country song. But season 2 also had a killer version of O Death. Darn. Hard call.
Fargo does not slack on the soundtrack front, that’s for sure. The S2 scene set to Children of The Sun was just so good.
Hawley cares more about soundtracks then most showrunners. He also has a wide range of taste, from early country to classical to folk to rock and eveything in between.
I was a big fan of Noah Hawley and Jeff Russo’s version of Ship of Fools at the end of the episode in S3 when Ray finds Nikki beaten up.
Oh god that was probably the best song usage in season 3.
It was really well done and the way they changed the tone of the song to be more haunting matched what was going on in the scene perfectly.
If you aren’t aware, the band Camper Van Beethoven has what I consider to be one of the best versions of “O Death” ever made.
Thats a really good rendition. My favorite is either going to be the Ralph Stanley version from O Brother Where Art Thou or the Amy Von Ronkle version featured in Until Dawn.
One thing I liked this episode was “Accentuate the Positive”…but at the same time it bugged me, because the aweosme Mr. In-Between, about an Australian hitman, is actually named after a line from the song, which makes it feel a little…used.
Ah well, as long as they don’t pull out Psycho Killer or Hallelujah, I *guess* I can give it a pass.
Unless Hawley pulls off a mask and reveals himself to he Zach Snyder I doubt we’ll ever get such an overplayed song.
S2 is one of my favorite seasons of television. I liked 3 over 1, but the premise of this has me very excited, so much so it might end up close to S2 if the rest of the series plays out like the first two episodes.
I was also in the camp of those who believe season 3 was not as good as the previous two, but three years later I feel the urge to rewatch it. I only remember it as the season where Ewan McGregor plays opposite himself, Carrie Coon struggles with electric devices, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead looks especially stunning.
Winstead was the take-away revelation of S3. If I do a rewatch, it would be for her.
I was already a fan. If you didn’t see it, I strongly recommend her dramatic performance in All About Nina, which should have been rewarded more.
s3 grows the most out of any Fargo season on rewatch – I’d place it comfortably ahead of s1 at this point
Season two had some episodes that were so beautifully paced and shot with such cinematic detail (the shootout being the standout), it bought loads of good will and affection to me for future seasons. I’ll be patient with this season hoping it gets clearer and more compelling as it goes along, but sometimes it takes a few episodes to get comfortable. I’m in no hurry.
I agree with you, it seems like reviewers are in a contest to tear down the show as much as they can and make unflattering digs under the cowardly guise of raising legitimate questions, sort of like when a sports reporter asks a NBA player to “talk about going 1-13 from the field” instead of just stating that the guy had a bad night, but when it comes down to it other than the pace I can’t think of any actual criticism that holds water.
That’s why I think a lot of reviews about “Fargo” tend to pose hypothetical questions, cause they can’t define what is or isn’t lacking in a show as unique and charming as “Fargo” and actually back it up. I am into the son-swapping premise, the angel of mercy nurse, the awesome funeral home parents, Timothy Olyphant being Raylan Givens 2.o, not to mention Chris Rock!
Fargo has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to the cast and dialogue, so much so the praise should outstrip the complaints, but actually complimenting a show isn’t really how things go around here. Usually it gets a bunch of jabs in the body of the review and then a B to B+ grade so as to seem like they were being fair.
Critics seem to be doing this across the board. The season has like a 70 rating on rotten tomatoes. Even season 3 has like a 92 which feels unearned. That season was like an 8 at best.
Even season 3 has like a 92 which feels unearned. That season was like an 8 at best.RT percentages are not rating grades, though. 92 means that percentage of critics gave a positive evaluation, even if tepid. A film or show that every single critic gives a passing grade to gets 100% on RT, despite the fact that every single review might just consider it good, not great.
Im aware how it works. I believe the average score for season 4 is a 7. I know most critics got the first 9 episodes pre screened so perhaps the quality dips in the future, but I don’t see how season 3 was reviewed better. Because even that season started off on a weird footing that never quite fixed.
Yea, I was rubbed the wrong way by the reviewer portraying S1 simply as “watchable content” – I get that the point was that they thought the show wouldn’t be good, but it would make someone who is just thinking about getting into the show think it was average TV. And S1 / S2 of this show are widely hailed as terrific.If you have a good point, you shouldn’t have to skew every part of your commentary to support that point. And that’s what a lot of this felt like.
I was worried about season one up until Lorne Malvo started talking. By the time he gave his here be dragons speech I was floored and hooked.
S2 is soooo good. I get that sometimes reviewers compare it to the movie and say it isn’t quite as good as that, or their expectations were low because the Coen Bros. bar is so high. But we’re at S4 at this point, everyone has had a good long chance to draw their own opinions on the show version, so I agree that the reviewer is selling S1 short. Personally, I think it is purposeful, makes a reviewer seem a lot more insightful to point out “flaws” and have hot takes rather than just dole out praise.
Season 3 just suffers from following the brilliant Season 2. It also is top notch.
It was a flawed season for sure but it still had a great villain and included one of my favorite story within a stories of ALL-TIME (the “I Can Help” robot).
The LA episode which was basically a bottle episode was my favorite of the season. And yes the Planet Wyh segment was wonderfully melancholy.
I’m pretty sure that Loy’s son who gets swapped over to the Faddas is Mike Milligan from Season 3. Maybe his being taken in by “Rabbi” Milligan (from Dublin, Italy lol) turns into a father-son relationship and he takes his last name? Dunno.Mayflower is the Minnesota Nice Nurse Ratched, eh? I ain’t mad.“Go fuck a state park” Uh, Yogi?Doctor Senator was a HBCU man, I see.There were no white people in the room where it happened, huh.
I have the same suspicion about Mike Milligan. The Milligan name can’t be in there for nothing, and the dates check out.
“Howard University” (you know!)“Thats the Negro school?”Doctor Senator aka Mayor Royce
Thats my guess. The Irish guy and the kid are the only survivors at the end and sometimes sometimes Germans show up.
Was that state park quote in last nights show??? Or is from some other show?
My ears pricked up as soon as I heard “Milligan” as well. I agree the relationship between Rabbi Milligan and Loy’s son will be something to watch for sure. Hard to pick a favorite character at this juncture, but just based on complex backstory i think Rabbi is my favorite. When it comes to acting though, both Rock and Schwartzmann are hilarious and get some of the best lines. “You’ll get your vote, as I’m slow pumping a baby into your daughter and twice on sundays”
Season 2
Yes. By the time I realized my error, it was too late to change the post.
That’s beautiful. I hadn’t noticed the Milligan connection. I’m sure you’re right.
I enjoyed this but I also don’t think it felt “Fargo-y”. It felt more distinct from the other seasons, which isn’t a bad thing, its just different. But I feel like that difference is going to cause issues with folks that are expecting something more like the first couple of seasons.
It’s raising Arizona
Nailed it. This isn’t just Fargo. It’s an all-Coen Brothers pastiche. S3 was like that too, what with its Lebowski bowling alley detour. When I first saw the commercials for this I said, “Ope, Fargo’s doing Miller’s Crossing this season.”Add in the jailbeak/birth from Raising Arizona, the cattle gun from No Country For Old Men, and a snippet of quoted speech from True Grit – stir gently and this is what we got. It’s fine though. I think more and more these things are meant for a binge. FX pushed out the first three episodes fast (I think #3 is On Demand) so maybe even they realize S4 needs a big dose up front to get people hooked.
“We released ourselves on our own recognizance” is a direct lift from “Raising Arizona”
They all seem to feature the key theme of innocent folks getting caught between the greed and evil of others, and having to respond accordingly. Also, small town law taking on layers of organized crime. And tiny acts of random chaos or resentment sparking a powerkeg of violence.
It’s always pulled from the whole Coen canon.
How many sci-fi shows are we going to get this year about racism in the 1950s-60s? Unreal.
I haven’t seen any of this new season, but I can say that none of the first three seasons were smart. They were, at best, entertaining, and owed more to Tarantino’s sensibilities than the Coens.
It’s doing New Gods treaties this season.
Make GARFO, Fargo starring Garfield, you cowards!
Best idea I’ve heard all day
Just finished the first episode and I have to get this off my chest. Whatever this is it is not Fargo. This series is pretty formulaic. Set in Minnesota/North Dakota, snowy landscapes, lots of great accents. Most importantly the first 3 seasons have a big outrageous incident in the pilot that is the basis for the entire season. Season 4 does none of these things. Honestly they should have taken this script to HBO and pitched it as Boardwalk Empire: Kansas City. I wont be continuing this season. If by chance after its all released I hear good things I will watch it then.
They keep showing a guy taking a huge fall on a patch of ice in the previews.That, at least, is classic Fargo.
“Boardwalk Empire: Kansas City.” Lol
You know, I thought it was okay, but I was waiting for the big outrageous incident. I guess it’s just the BB gun death?
People have argued with me that the BB gun death is the incident. But if you compare it to the previous seasons it doesn’t really hold water. The show is well made but what makes it Fargo and not “generic gangster show”?
Yep, a big difference was the incidents in past seasons were accidents or plans gone awry- committed by the main characters, that lead to secrets or cover ups that the show would pull on a thread and see what unravels. This random BB gun shooting (capped off by the IV poisoning) leaves little room for mystery, or the sense that people are in over their heads and need to start scrambling.
But it’s still early, and there’s still time for that to happen. I’m staying positive. So far, the one thing making this feel like “Fargo” is the off-kilter killer played by Elizabeth Morris. She’s the best thing about it, so far.
Who is Elizabeth Morris?
Whoops My bad! It said ‘photo: Elizabeth Morris’ and I thought that was the actress, lol. Jessie Buckley is who I was looking for
I think you mean Jessie Buckley.
And where are the UFOs?
Season 2 had a pretty strong Kansas City connection. Fargo, North Dakota is only about 8 hours away from Kansas City so I’m thinking we are gong to be seeing Fargo – I suspect the much snowier setting that Swanee and Zelmare escaped from may be in Fargo.Jack Huston is also playing a detective and Timothy Olyphant a US Marshall so I’m not sure that we won’t get to some of the usual tropes.
I have long been a fan of the show…since season one, and, have always been riveted to it on a weekly basis…usually from episode one….but it is quite obvious to me that this year, they dropped the ball. Chris Rock may not have much acting experience, but the fact of the matter is that when you see him, you simply can’t get him out of your head as a stand up comedian, almost like someone who has been typecast because of what they have done in the past…therefore, he simply doesn’t fit. As well, they have taken the show out of it’s upper mid west geography, resplendent with the jargon that we have come to love in all the past seasons…. the “Yaaah”, the “don’t ya know now”, the “You bet’cha” that somehow became intrinsic to not just the characters, but the entire character of the show…… The show has always gotten raves, but I think this year might be a death rattle that it can’t recover from…sad to say….to the writers….please….go back to Minnesota and go back to basics…..and hell, let’s see some of that depressing, uber cold, snowy weather that makes us think to ourselves ‘thank god’, I don’t live there, or I’d blow my brains out.
Rome took leaders’ sons as hostages like that, and raised them as proper Romans.Arminius, one of those hostages, learned Roman tactics he then used to ambush and massacre 20,000 Romans at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest.So yeah, not always a fairy tale ending.
Jack Kirby used this theme in his “New Gods” series with the awesome story “The Pact”, which ends with Darkseid and Izaya trading sons to keep the peace between New Genesis and Apokolips. One grows up to be Orion, the other Scott Free/Mister Miracle.
That was definitely where my mind went as soon as I saw all the son-swapping. There was also that interesting bit about one of the sons keeping allegiance with his new father over his blood one, a’la Orion, who I guess is Rabbi Milligan in this show.
I don’t think I’d consider any show or movie to be “smart.” I’m not even sure what that would imply, and I’ve certainly never in my life referred to a show as smart. Witty? Sure. Clever? Yep. Metaphorical? Obviously. There’s even movies/shows I’d consider “dumb.” But smart? It sounds like the type of thing Rick and Morty fans tell each other to make it seem like it takes a being a brain surgeon and having multiple degrees to understand it. Or a comment you’d see left under a critic’s review after they rated a show badly.“This show’s just too smart for you, you don’t get it. Go back to watching your Michael Bay movies.”Maybe I’m just not smart enough to recognize a “smart” show. Back to watching Transformers it is.
Who cares?
First sentence in the article, buddy.“Here’s a question for yah: is Fargo (the TV show) actually smart?”
https://m.ranker.com/list/smart-tv-shows-for-smart-people/ranker-tv
Imagine calling Game of Thrones and American Horror Story “smart” tv.Christ.
“I’ve certainly never in my life referred to a show as smart. Witty? Sure. Clever? Yep.”Definition of smart (Entry 2 of 4)2a: WITTY, CLEVERSounds like you have referred to a show as smart before.
The question of “Is this smart?” Is essentially what I continue to wonder about Hawley’s Legion. A year out from the series finale, my answer to that was “no, not really”.
Fargo on the other hand is even harder. I do genuinely love season 2. Season 1 and 3 I was a bit colder on, but I can’t argue with how well made and well acted both of those seasons were.
Sometimes people confuse complexity with being smart. Legion was complex, but did it amount to anything? I don’t know. I stopped watching during the second season, because I was bored. I think Fargo is smart, and complex. More importantly, I think it’s fun as well. Does Fargo make you think? More importantly, does it make you think constructively and guide you to consider specific issues, instead of just throwing a bunch of unrelated clever questions at you? I think that’s what makes a show smart (you need to be smart, or at least informed, to watch it). So I would say Fargo is smart.
Season 1 of Legion blew me away. I LOVED it. I couldn’t even get past episode 3 of S2. I just could not care. I like all seasons of Fargo. I’m not 100% on board with this season yet, but I trust Hawley as a storyteller, so I’m not ready to bail on it yet.
I don’t know if this is a hot take, but: I don’t give a damn if it’s “actually” smart. Hawley makes incredibly fun vignettes, and even if that’s all a show amounts to, I’m okay with that (and sometimes it’s more than that, like season 2 of Fargo).
I had a similar take posted elsewhere. To rip off an outdated overused pop culture reference, the question is “Does it bring you joy”? And every season of Fargo, included this season already, has scenes that qualify. That’s enough for me!
I like a big ensemble but this a bit too much maybe? But there’s lots of ways things can go with so many characters and that’s exciting. I can imagine Ethelrida being drawn more into the narrative if her parents got bumped off early, for instance, and she had to survive on the run with her Aunt.
I think this is what happens to any artist with a striking individual style. At first, it’s exciting and invigorating but eventually you start to see the formula and creative math at work. And then some artists double down on their style to the point that it becomes suffocating.
Tim Burton, that is all.
One of the members of Cannon LimiteDis named Banjo Rightway. I really don’t have anything more to say than that. Banjo Rightway.
The names are incredible. I mean doctor senator? Why not.
I know, right?Cannon and Fadda = cannon fodder
Hello madda, hello fadda? Is the final shootout at camp Granada?
it is weird that they say he is a doctor, then he’s not, but he has a PhD in economics. So isn’t he a Dr. Doctor Senator? Reminds me of how in “Bojack Horseman” they had a bunch of characters whose given names were that of a profession or something (captain, doctor, um, even Mr.)
Its actually very Bojack like.
He’s still got nothing on Major Major Major Major from Catch-22.
Yeah that one is golden. So much so that I still vaguely remember the process that got the character to the point where he got that unique name/rank combo and I haven’t read that book in ages. Though I liked it a lot! Might have to give it a re-read, even though I recall it made me depressed.
And the only albino rhino gyno I know.
Where is his archnemesis , Banjo Wrongway?
I think you mean Dobro Wrongway.
The fuck is AV Club’s obsession with peeing on Fargo?
Man, I swear reviewers like this are embarrassing. Talking about not enough info two episodes in on a season. I won’t even mention my other qualms.
Okay, I will mention how he says all the seasons are samey. They are not.
I mean I’d like more information abour Buckleys character, but then again she’s an Angel of Death serial killer. You may be surprised but… serial killers don’t do a great job explaining why they kill… or tend to be even that complicated. Her real life counterpart Jane Toppan literally said she just wanted to have the worlds largest body count. That’s it.
I’ve only seen the first episode but I wouldn’t call it boring. A boy killing his father. That scene in the car at the school crossing. The nurse killing the head of the Italian mob, at the behest of his son. The racism. The banker telling Loy “these are hardworking people who would never spend money they don’t have”. Are any of us really “American”? And Ethelrida as our narrator.
Totally agree. Also the review hardly mentions the superb photography. There are some incredibly clever shots all through the show. If you only review the story rather than the complete package you’re only doing half a job. To me it’s very entertaining and beautiful to look at. What the fuck exactly do you want from a show called ‘Fargo’? That’s why we watch it!
Welcome back Fargo.I still miss Boardwalk Empire, so I’m fine with it leaning a bit harder in that direction for a season. Cast’s good, names are amazing, and Ethelrida’s family is lucky the cops showed up for her aunt when they did (don’t mess with pie like that, and don’t become a serial killer’s project, kids).
Is that Molly Ringwald up top or does it just look like her?
Jessie Buckley
Thank you! I literally just watched Wild Rose last week, but I couldn’t place why that nurse looked so damn familiar.
She’s got a distinctive face yet she can still look completely different with hairstyle changes.
Also, I’m face blind. And regular blind.
Calling it now: Mike Milligan from season 2 is the son of Ethelrida and the Irish kid. It’s actually so obvious that I am probably wrong.
Season 2 is set about 20 years after this one, so not enough time for them to have a kid and be Bokeem Woodbine’s age.But I think it’s pretty obvious (obvious enough to make me question it) that Rabbi Milligan is gonna double cross EVERYONE, ala Hanzi in season 2, and be the main dude in charge and raise Chris Rock’s son to be Mike Milligan.
I was running out the door when I posted that, so to expand on that, here’s my argument:Mike was highly intelligent, classically educated, with no trace of a “blaccent”. He would have gotten all of that from Ethelrida, and being part of a second generation of mixed parentage. He would be an excellent code-switcher except for the fact that neither his mother or his grandmother would have tolerated speaking AAVE in their houses. That’s why he moved through white society so easily.
I’m not sure if that would work timeline-wise. S2 is in 1979, and Mike’s, what, 30? Ethelrida is also a good 24 years younger than Ben Whishaw, so ehhh.
The possibility that it’s Satchel Cannon is a possibility – the timeline more or less would work, but there would be details that need explaining or handwaving. Could just be that Hawley has a penchant for reusing names as well. I think Mike Milligan had a mother named Barbara that was talked about in Season 2. None of the Cannon’s appear to be named Barbara so either Rabbi Milligan needs to have a connection to a Barbara or they’re going to have to handwave that away.
Mike Milligan from season 2 is the son of Ethelrida and the Irish kid.The Irish kid is not a kid anymore in the present of Ethelrida, he’s about the age of her father. Did you mean the Italian kid who was most recently swapped?Or if you meant because he’s called Milligan, then there’s a black kid already functioning as his surrogate son, no need help from Ethelrida with that.
I’m not going to waste time talking about this review. This show has a character named Doctor Senator. He’s got a dope ass hat and is already my favorite.Give it the Emmy.
Weakest opening episode of a Fargo season so 4. Haven’t watched the second one yet, because boy was the first a yawner. A lot of table-setting and like ten minutes of actually getting to spend time with actual characters doing or saying something interesting.
Season 1 – A+Season 2 – BSeason 3 – C-Sounds like Season 4 will be continuing the trend.
Is it smart was my main issue with S3. Not as smart as it thought it was.
Still very good, no argument there but caught up in trying to look clever at the expense of substance. As Peter Griffin said “It insists upon itself”
I’ll give this season a shot but I think it peaked with S2 after a strong S1.
Season 3 kinda sucked, but Carrie Coon was majestic.
nevermind
jessie buckley is so scary good y’alldefinitely felt a little slow/table setting/harder than previous seasons to get into at first but i think that’s because this cast is just SO stacked and there’s a lot of moving parts (literally with the kid swap and such). but i have a lot of hope for the rest of the season!i’ve also dearly missed hawley’s visual style and use of score (the intro of cannon’s operation is a great example)
i’ve never been too clear on what it means for a show to be “smart.” you have to have been smart to make it? then most shows are “smart,” including quite a few that are undeniably shit. You have to be smart to get it? then most “smart” shows are bad. i really don’t know what a smart show is.also, complaining about being able to see the tricks of someone you’ve seen a lot from seems like a weird thing to do. if you don’t see their tricks after a while they either lack originality and are just doing things by the book or you’re watching at a shallow level. every great artist in film has tricks that can be studied, but usually they’re referred to as their signature or their method, because calling them tricks sounds like you spend too much time thinking about what’s “smart” and you’re just upset you were fooled.
I had the opposite reaction. S1 was the definition of too much in love with itself (even though it was pretty good), S2 was just awful. Boring, terrible cast (why is everyone obsessed with Jesse Plemons? The guy has one facial expression), and… aliens? I didn’t get past the first episode of S3 because of all the problems above.
this was great and I missed this show a lot, I’m glad it’s backloved the subtle Miller’s Crossing and Raising Arizona references in the dialogue too
any show working with marginalized groups has an obligation to avoid or address stereotypes about those groups
Well, I don’t think a show should be ‘obliged’ to do anything, but I do want to touch a bit on this. In terms of stereotypical casting, anyway. So Fargo starts, and you’ve got rivals swapping kids, and it establishes itself as a (pretty great, imo) fable, and they are using a lot of stereotypical cues to code the Jewish from the Irish from the Italians, and I admit I needed that because I would have been totally confused otherwise. And then we get to the current timeline, and Jason Schwartzman, who I was sure was gonna be a Jew is a leader on the Italian side, and it totally throws me, lol. I forgot his uncle is Francis Ford Coppola, so ok, but he feels like an example of casting against convention, and it’s kind of interesting. (Although I hated that he actually said “slow your role” to his fiance’s father and it’s 1950)
On the flip side, “Chris Rock To Star In Fargo Season 4″ was the big question mark for me. Besides a guest spot as a prison tough in Empire, I’ve never seen him do drama. He was unintentionally funny in that. How’d he do here? He had this great intense look. Seems well-suited to carry this season. And then he opens his mouth. And it’s Chris Rock, and it’s just unintentionally funny to me. He’s pitching “The Credit Card” and it feels like a bit. Chris Rock: Crime Boss isn’t exactly convincing me, 2 episodes in. I’m hoping I can get used to it, but already, I think the Doctor Senator character has a more commanding presence in the crew and onscreen, and the show might be better served if he was the lead.
There’s something off with this season…I know Hawley is directing…and it looks like it’s lit and shot well, but there is a rhythm that is weird…like, maybe they couldn’t get their usual editor because of Covid or something? It just seems a little clunky.
I’m also having a problem with Chris Rock. He has aged too well. I keep feeling I am seeing a 25-year old with brushed in gray playing a 55 year-old.
Good for him, but still…it could be an acting thing tho. Like in Umbrella Academy, I am convinced I am seeing a 60 year old man playing a teenager, because the kid is just that good…
Is the avclub a smart blog?That’s the most insufferable thing I’ve read on this site today, and that’s including a Barsanti piece I accidentally opened (removing bylines from the news section was herb-esque)
I liked it. I would have liked it more if the long, repetitive scenes of ethnic mobsters rising, being eclipsed by the next ethnic mob, who double crosses them, and is later double crossed by the most recent mob, had been done as a quick montage.
I cannot believe how poorly some people received S3. It was, to me, the absolute peak of the show in terms of artistic ambition, complexity, and theme. And, not trivially, IT HAD A REAL POINT. I love Season 1, but it felt vanilla in hindsight and Season 2 was a nice expansion from it.
the same old routine? earlier seasons of fargo were about crime and chaos interrupting the mundane lives of regular people and their reactions to it. this new iteration is an exercise in dour, finger-wagging race scolding. literally the first half hour’s narration was a lecture about how Racism Is Bad. it’s sooooo boring. i know there’s a sizeable audience waiting to be told things they already think but this sort of dour, ham fisted pedantry is hard to choke down after those first two seasons. what a letdown.
The first hour was about how immigrants become American, and what it means to be “American” not “racism is bad”
Wow, you would think The A.V. Club would assign someone who actually enjoys the series to write the reviews. This entire review is one asinine complaint after another. Literally starting the review off insulting the series as a whole is absolutely insane. The first two episodes lay down a lot of pipe for what seems to be a compelling season ahead of us yet all this review could fixate on is complaints about it not being exciting enough, introducing too many characters, or moving too “slowly”. Zack Handlen should probably go and review reality TV or some other trash since he clearly seems annoyed with this show. I mean he literally complains that the names are too complex for him to spell correctly and promises the readers that he will fuck them up in publication at some point. Thank goodness they didn’t have him reviewing Game of Thrones back then, his head would’ve exploded the second he had to type out “Daenerys Targaryen”. Normally I enjoy AVC TV reviews because they enlist a writer who genuinely enjoys the content they are covering (Joelle Monique’s Lovecraft Country reviews are a delight). It’s pretty disappointing they’ve elected someone with such a soured opinion of the series as a whole on the first round of a much anticipated season.
Josto & Oraetta are Lorne Malvo’s parents. Calling it now.
Very nice. You explained my problems with this season perfectly, because I couldn’t quite put my finger on it – other than just saying, “nothing happened”. Huge difference from previous seasons. Season 2 is my desert island television show. I’ve watched it three times, and I think it’s just a beautifully told story with beautifully sympathetic characters. And the soundtrack was out of sight. None of the characters in this new season have any depth yet – and damn, I just can’t buy Chris Rock as anything resembling a gangster. I hope that changes.
Hey, what was the deal with the guy standing in the street as the camera panned from the funeral home to Oraetta’s apartment at the end of the first episode?
You saw that, too? I thought I had imagined it.
I wondered that too. Perhaps it was supposed to be the Raylan Givens character or perhaps we’ll see it at some point in the future (I could see it being this season’s supernatural element).
That totally creeped me out. Great catch!
I’d watch Jessie Buckley read from the phone book.
Anybody do a Molly Ringwald joke yet? I only went the first page of comments.
I love Noah Hawley’s work and I’m okay with settling in to see where the story goes.Also, in a season that is thus far just packed with ridiculous and awesome names, Doctor Senator is by far the most ridiculous and awesome. And he seems like an excellent character as well.
Fun enough, I’ll stick with it.
The problem for me is Noah Hawley’s style. He’s very eclectic and talented and has a good eye for detail… but he’s smug and pretentious as the day is long. At least that’s how his projects manifest themselves. I wouldn’t want to take a job away from him, but part of enjoying his work comes with knowing that the show is winking right at you begging to be noticed for being clever or perplexing or creative.I guess this shows up best in the dialogue even in this first episode that’s supposed to be some kind of tribute to the Coen’s linguistic style. But it quickly becomes like a Wes Anderson quirky ripoff that’s trying to get a high score in the thesaurus or something, and seem so woke and philosophical just because it quoted Fredrick Douglass as prose. (Damn Noah! You really get black people fr!) And it has that feel even in Legion and other stuff. “Hey guys if we use a plucky little known Chinese folk song over this footage of people burying bodies in a symmetrical landscape then….that’s quirky right?” And it’s all well executed for the most part but it feels disingenuous. Like what Ryan Johnson’s become. Thinking that if you consider yourself an offbeat nerd about some genre that it means you actually get it. Really you take guys like Noah Hawley and Rian Johnson and at the end of the day it feels like they want to take subjects and repurpose them for their postmodern ironic detatched hipster friend circle.I’ll still look for the value in these things, but it will be watered down by that smugness.PS: predictions: They will play Old Black Joe somewhere this season (like in Barton Fink)
The way Nurse Mayflower was able to badger the guy into giving her severance and a letter of recommendation made no sense to me.Sure, doctors classically have bad handwriting, but she’s in the kind of role where if you’re unsure about a prescribed medicine or procedure, you double check with the doctor, not bore straight ahead and hope you got the drug and dose right.It seemed perfectly reasonable to fire her even if you did buy her story that it was just a mistake, especially considering everything else they had on her. I really did not think that was a smart sceneAlso what was that syrup that she put in the pie?
Agreed on the scene. It made no sense. She put ipecac syrup in the pie. It causes vomiting. People used to keep it in their homes in case of an accidental poisoning.
I think the idea was this: the hospital knew she was doing some shady shit and patients were dying or getting sicker. They want this to stop but they do not want anyone to know about this, so they try to fire her assuming that she will be happy just to leave and avoid facing any legal punishment. She throws him off by saying the doctors are at fault and makes it seem like she is willing to fight this enough that the law will have to get involved. Once the law is involved, this will all become public knowledge and it will probably affect the hospital’s reputation, their doctors’ malpractice/liability/whatever insurance, and cases will have to be opened looking into past deaths and illnesses there. The best case scenario is that she is arrested, charged, and it is found that she is solely responsible and gets convicted. Even if that happened, the hospital are still the ones who were incompetent enough to employ a murderer and not notice til she had killed multiple people. Its all about protecting the image and financial health of the hospital, even if it means sweeping deaths under the rug and giving a job recommendation to a psycho you know is probably going to hurt people at her next job also.
That makes a lot of sense. Thanks
No prob! I’m not in love this season yet, but her character is the most interesting part and that scene is part of why. Unlike the reviewer, I am glad that she seems to be a force of pure chaos and is not a “genius manipulator.” We can imagine that scenario has already played out at multiple hospitals before and she has left a trail of bodies in her wake and escaped punishment simply because other people want to maintain the status quo and cannot really seem to comprehend or deal with what she is.
Or to put it another way, this is how white women have used their privilege to get away with shit for ages.
No? This isn’t white lady privilege, its taking advantage of the hospitals worrying more about image/donors/money than patients. Its the cold inhumanity of bureaucracy and capitalism with a side of underestimating a woman as being capable of the worst that a man could do.
It’s that too, but only a white nurse would even consider throwing that back on her employer when confronted with her own wrongdoing.
Edit (because I realize the above sounds much more mean-spirited than intended): It’s that too, but only a white nurse in 1950 would even consider throwing that back on her employer when confronted with her own wrongdoing. As the opening scenes with Ethelrida getting punished illustrate, pointing out hypocrisy only tends to work in your favor if you’re white – and I do think Mayflower knows it.
I got so caught up in the review part of this that I didn’t give much of a recap.Much prefer this to the inverse *cough* Lovecraft Country *cough*
i really loved season 1 & season 2, season 3 was good. this looks like something that’s already been done.
Considering what a shitshow the season 3 reviews were and how little understanding of obvious things Zack Handlen’s shown – like his hilarious theories on Mr. Wrench – I’d say the more important question to ask is: is Zack Handlen (the reviewer) actually smart?